Special Who has levelling products which dry rapidly?

PROGRESS IS RAPID

DRYING TIMES GET SHORTER YEAR BY YEAR

Photo – Chimiver

The importance of levelling a floor cannot be underestimated. If you want a perfect end result before you fit the final floor, you have to deal with the substrate first. This means that terms like precision and flatness are used a lot when it comes to levelling agents.

Equally or more important when it comes to a subfloor is the concept of speed. You don’t finish a levelled floor in a slovenly manner; for instance, you keep a watchful eye on the drying time, certainly if you’re going to fit wood on top. Wood and damp just don’t mix. And so, in this context, where should we put the so called super-speed levellers? In particular, what is their market position?

Cement and anhydrite-bound

First of all, we notice that the levelling agent market is buzzing. Obviously, the players are responding to screed floors, but even there we notice that change is on the way, certainly in the Netherlands. The emergence of anhydrite floors (i.e. based on gypsum) is yielding an increase of new products. The big problem with traditional levelling agents is that they dry slowly, and that creates imperatives, especially for fitting wood. Usually, guidelines of 12 hours are cited, but most experts opt for the much safer duration of double that length of time.

When speed is of the essence

What if we need the work done faster and have to use a fast-drying levelling cement? Here we notice that amongst the so called ‘superspeed levellers’ there is an ongoing race in progress. For instance, we notice at Wakol Z610 that a wooden floor with a layer thickness of 5mm can be glued after a drying time of barely six hours. Between 5 and 10 mm we’re looking at 12 hours and for a layer thickness of up to 30 mm it’s a matter of barely 24 hours.

Until recently, the difficulty with these super-speed levellers was the very short spreading time. However, we also notice that here, too, there has been considerable progress. The aforementioned resource guarantees about 20 minutes and that’s plenty of time as compared to the still relatively recent past. Spreading and being able to walk on the floor in just two hours sounds like music to the ears. Certainly because you get not only hardness, but also a dust-free working method. It’s worth also mentioning that there are now lots of tests in progress to find out how fast-drying levelling agents can be applied via pumping. The results so far have proved to be very good. Hundreds of square metres can be tackled quickly, pumping is possible via a tube at a reasonably safe distance, and the end result looks completely solid without any dents. Obviously, it goes without saying that this isn’t a job for a man or woman working alone and that it has to be well co-ordinated in advance.

Anhydrite

Until recently, we were talking almost exclusively about sand-cement covering floors, certainly in Belgium, but now we see that there, too, there has been some progress. For instance, you notice that in the Netherlands where half of the covering floors are fitted on a gypsum base (i.e. anhydrite).

Various things also mean that anhydrite resources are making progress and that they are being used more and more for levelling, certainly with thicker covering floors. One minor drawback with anhydrite is that the drying is somewhat slower, but since this is a waste product from coal power stations there is a favourable environmental element. This is also in response to (Dutch) legislation which states that no more than 40m² of cement covering floors may be made manually per day and per person. In the case of anhydrite you don’t have this problem because pumped floors do not constitute a problem in that respect. This means that you will see anhydrite covering floors more and more on the project market, as it certainly does involve the traditional bending and hard work. On the other hand, you can tackle several houses at once.

Two specialists

Bona

Bona Egalines (levelling agents) – all suitable for floor heating: Bona H600 is a cement-bound, acrylic polymer-reinforced, selflevelling, and rapid drying levelling agent for use under mosaic parquet, engineered parquet, multilayer parquet, and solid parquet. It is also suitable for use under elastic floors, textile floors, and solid cork tiles. Bona H600 can be applied in 1 treatment up to 20mm. Floor ready for use*: after about 1.5 - 2 hours; For fitting*: with 1-10mm after about 12 hours / with 10 - 20mm after about 24 hours, for elastic and textile floors. For wooden floors 24 hours (*at +20°C and max. 65% residual damp). Bona H605 is a calcium sulphate levelling agent based on Alpha hemihydrate. It yields flat and absorbent substrates for the subsequent fitting of elastic and textile floor coverings and also for parquet which is glued using Bona silane parquet adhesives. Bona H605 can be applied in 1 treatment up to 20mm. Bona H660 is a cement-bound, acrylic polymer-reinforced, self-levelling levelling agent for use under elastic floors, textile floors, and solid cork tiles. It can also be used under wooden floors. Bona H660 can be applied in 1 treatment up to 10mm. For thicker layers you should mix Bona H660 with dry quartz sand.

Chimiver

RASOCHIM FAST is a thixotropic cement smoothing for floors and walls with thicknesses up to 30 mm. RASOCHIM FAST is a quickdrying cement grey powder composed of special cement bind. RASOCHIM FAST can be used only indoor. RASOCHIM FAST mixed with water becomes a thixotropic creamy paste, easy to work with high adhesion to supports. RASOCHIM FAST hardens without shrinking, without forming slits or cracks, with rapid development of mechanical resistance. RASOCHIM FAST has a high resistance to compression, abrasion and to the action of wheelchairs. It can apply on cement screed,old plaster, not-absorbent shiny surfaces, concrete, etc. In accordance with european EN 13813 it is classified CT-C35-F7A22-B2,0. Also suitable for heated subfloors, requiring a fast hardening and drying.